


Aim for the neck

by Arvalap



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Gen, Mind Control, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 10:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11644584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arvalap/pseuds/Arvalap
Summary: A strange creature is brought into the castle unknown to most of the team. It is soon discovered that it’s not harmless as it looks as it turn the paladins against each other.





	Aim for the neck

**Author's Note:**

> \o/  
> Thanks onoheiwa for betaing  
> And Luna for doing the amazing art  
> \o/

The planet of Amate was, according to Coran, known for its diverse fauna, rich mines, and cities with buildings so tall you could barely see the sky, though the beautiful architecture made up for it. When they got there, however, it was little more than a junkyard. The cities were rusty ruins and the towering buildings looked on the verge of collapsing. The forests were barren now, just extensive fields of toxic gas that escaped from the planet’s mantle. Any life that once inhabited the planet was long gone. Amate was dead, a ghost planet.

The paladins flew around in their lions, scouring the land, the leftovers of the Galra buildings in as bad shape as the Amatians’. They came to a stop in front of what seemed to be the old Galra central base, larger than any of the other buildings and with vestiges of roads connecting to it from all directions. 

"I will go inside with Hunk and Pidge. Keith and Lance, see if you can find anything else." Shiro called through the coms as he landed the Black Lion.

Keith and Lance voiced their consent and took off in opposite directions, Keith going northwest, towards the low mountains, and Lance going east, following one of the most well preserved roads. Hunk, Shiro, and Pidge got off their lions, masks fully closed, and made their way to the door, but nothing happened when Shiro put his prosthetic on the scanner by the door.

"The energy must have ran out..." Shiro guessed.

"Yeah... A long time ago. This place is in pretty bad shape." Hunk gave the building a judging look. 

"I can't hack the system without power." Pidge sighed.

"We can just take the hard drive and take a look at it on the castle." 

"First we have to get in." Shiro moved to the center of the door, positioning himself to pull it open. Hunk joined him and quickly they had opened a big enough space for them to pass through.

The interior was dark, illuminated only by the light in the paladins' suits. The coating on the walls was peeling off, the floor creaking dangerously with each step, and the ceiling had fallen off at some point. They walked around the base looking for the control room. Hunk cowered behind Pidge and Shiro, jumping at every noise and moving shadow and startling Shiro more than once. Pidge continued forward, ignoring any disturbances, checking every door. Finally, they found a room filled with monitors and panels. Some of the wiring was exposed between rusted holes and the whole room was covered in dust, but the room was in good shape otherwise. Shiro left the other two to handle the computers while he moved to explore the base further. 

Hunk dislodged the metal plate below the main panel and dove in. He was shoulder deep trying to disconnect the hard drive without damaging it when something blocked his vision. He screamed and jumped back, falling on his butt.

Pidge was startled away from inspecting one of the other computers. "What the hell, Hunk!"

"What is this!? I'm being attacked! Pidge!!" Hunk flailed on the floor trying to shake his attacker away, too scared to touch it. 

Pidge walked to him and picked up the small creature that had attached itself to the face of his mask. It was round and fit nicely in Pidge’s palm, with six long thin wire-like legs.

"Calm down." She gave him an unimpressed look.

Hunk jumped to his feet, hands held protectively in front of his body. "What is it?" He walked closer to Pidge, still trying to keep as much distance as he could between him and his attacker, keeping his eyes on it. Whatever it was, it was flat. It had no eyes, mouth, or anything other than its thin appendages. "Do you think it's alive?" 

"The scanner didn't show any signs of life on this planet..." 

As both of them approached the small creature, it jumped out of Pidge's hand. They jumped back with a shout. It wobbled around, and they scrambled to try and stomp it. 

“I got it!” Pidge shouted. 

“Nice one, Pidge!” However, as soon as she lifted her foot the creature was moving again. Hunk quickly went after it, but to no avail. It climbed the walls, and Hunk activated his bayard preparing to shoot, but Shiro was faster, running into the room and hitting it spot on with his glowing fist, and the creature fell seemingly dead on the floor. Pidge crouched next to it, examining the little thing.

Hunk turned back to the hole the creature came from. It was gone. Hidden by an agglomeration of little critters just like the one defeated on the floor. Their smooth, shiny bodies were jarring against the darkened and rusty equipment and the only tell that it wasn’t one single panel being the distorted images they reflected. Hunk gulped loudly and charged his cannon. The shot ricocheted and Shiro pulled his shield just in time to cover himself and Pidge. Pidge activated her bayard, ducked under Shiro and ran in their direction. She punched the newly formed wall and tased the cluster. 

All the screens lit up as the shock waves travelled through the computers and Pidge jumped back. The critter-panel crumbled to the floor, its pieces falling into a pile unceremoniously. The paladins stood there waiting for their foes’ next movement, but nothing happened. Pidge approached the pile slowly and nudged some of the creatures aside with her foot. When they remained unresponsive she crouched beside them. 

Shiro rushed to her and put a hand on her shoulder, “we don’t know what they can do. Let’s get that drive and then get out of here.” Pidge responded with a pout, but got up and walked away. Shiro pushed the creatures away from the opening and Hunk eyed the pile as he walked by. 

Shiro moved between him and the pile, giving Hunk a reassuring smile. Hunk mirrored the expression and got back to work. It didn’t take much longer for Hunk to get the hard drive. As they were making their leave Pidge took one last look at the offending creature and swiftly pocketed it. 

The walk back was faster, the paladins not having to watch their every step. Filled with Hunk’s rambling and theories about _what was that thing, and how could it be alive?_ , and _Is it even alive_ , switching between questions and answers with little-to-no prompting from his teammates, thought Pidge was listening attentively. 

They climbed back into their lions and Shiro called the red and blue paladins back, cutting through their discussion about who was farther and where was more dangerous. When they got back however, they confessed they found nothing but ruins and bare land. At the castle they reported to Allura and Coran their findings, making special mention to the strange creature. Much to Hunk’s dismay, though, Coran couldn’t provide any answers. 

Finally alone, Pidge set the drive on the table and connected it to the computer she and Hunk had set up in the hangar. She relaxed on the floor pulling what she had smuggled into the ship from her pocket to take a closer look and waited for the hard drive cracking program to do its job. The robot, she assumed, looked like a brain cell, its iridescent coating reflecting a disturbed image of its surroundings. It seemed much smaller now than back at the Galra base, and when it moved she could hear faint noises like those from a wind up toy. 

Her mind was filled with questions. _Was it really a robot? It couldn’t be alive, could it? How did they make it so compact? Yet it could stretch itself? Was it Galra or Amatian? What was it for?_

Pushing herself back up, she set the small thing on the table, anxious to start her tinkering. She had turned around to get her tools when she felt something on her neck. Something like a hand holding her in place. For a moment she thought one of her friends had walked in and was about to rant about her hiding this, bringing a dangerous, unknown device without telling the others. But no voice came. The “hand” felt cold and metal, but too small and thin to be Shiro’s. Looking around, she found she was alone. The alien robot was not at the table anymore. Pidge felt panic rise in her gut. Slowly, she brought her hand to the back of her neck. 

She stood there frozen. Being right about her fears brought little comfort to her. She tried to pinch and pull it, but the robot was much too small and too tightly attached to her skin for her to get a proper grip. She felt it’s tendrils stretching and reaching around her neck, up under her hair, and down her back. She jumped to her feet and clawed at her neck. Then she felt a pinch. 

And the world vanished.

Hunk sat in the kitchen, eating a sandwich he had just made, trying to calm himself from the attack at the Galra base. His questions remaining unanswered was not helping his anxiety drop. Maybe the hard drive would have a database with the planet’s inhabitants that he could take a look at later. He saw Pidge entering the kitchen with heavy steps, expression dark and bayard in hand. 

“Hey Pidge, did you crack the drive? I wanted to take a look at it too.”

She didn’t answer.

“Are you okay? What did you find? Was it that bad?” There was something wrong. She was too stiff, staring at him too intently with a cold rage he had never thought Pidge was capable of. “Pidge?” He got up and reached for her, worry shadowing his fear.

She activated her bayard and swung at him. Hunk stumbled back, clutching his stomach. She charged and swung again, cutting his arm. Hunk backed to the wall as Pidge charged forward. He swiftly ducked and rolled away and she hit the wall. He tried talking to her once more. 

“Pidge!? What are you doing?” She turned and launched her bayard at him. Hunk dodged and fled the kitchen, running down the corridors screaming for help and Pidge chased after him. “Pidge! Stop, please!” She tried again and he tripped trying to get away, falling on his injured arm. Pidge jumped at him, but he scrambled to his feet and began to run again.

At the training room, Keith sparred with a training bot while Lance took a break in the corner of the room, his bayard beside him. Hunk rushed into the room screaming, Pidge following close behind. She shot her hook at Hunk, tangling his legs, and he fell to the floor. Keith followed as he was struck by the bot, caught off guard in his surprise. Before it could land another blow Lance jumped to his feet and shot the bot and it fell to the floor deactivated.

[_by Luna_](http://annexedcat89.tumblr.com/post/163567602339/she-stood-there-frozen-being-right-about-her)

Pidge retracted her bayard and charged at Hunk, but hit Keith’s shield instead. She glared at him. Keith’s confusion grew when he saw the sinister look in her eyes. He jumped back as she swung at him. Lance rushed to help Hunk up from where he sat babbling, trying to explain what had happened, as Keith parried with Pidge. Keith deflected Pidge’s advances as she swung at him again and again. He tried calling for her but she didn’t seem to hear him. Pidge backed him into a wall and struck forward. 

“Keith!” Lance screamed from beside Hunk

Keith faltered and Pidge tased him. He groaned and fell to the floor. She drew her arm back, preparing for the next blow, when Keith lunged forward. They hit the floor and before Pidge could strike again he pinned her down. 

She struggled as he tried to get through to her. “Pidge! What are you doing!?” She snarled at him. Keith was taken aback and almost lost his grip. They struggled on the floor for a minute until she gave up with a final grunt. Keith sat back slowly, his hands lingering, unsure. As soon as she was free she sat up and headbutted him on the chin. He fell back with a grunt and Pidge jumped to her feet and charged at the other two paladins. 

Lance put himself in front of Pidge and tried to grapple her, but she dodged and swung at his side. Lance fell, quickly turning back to try again. She jumped away and crashed into Hunk, trying to whirl around as Hunk trapped her in a bear hug and lifted her up. She kicked and thrashed around. 

“Guys! Help!” Hunk called as Pidge started slipping out of his arms. Lance was on the floor looking back and forth between his friends. Keith ran forward, ready to attack. Pidge freed herself and prepared to attack Hunk. Lance jumped on her, holding her. His face was on her neck and he saw it, the intruder. 

She rammed her elbow into his face and turned to him, but Keith swung his sword, deflecting her attack and missing Lance’s face by less than an inch. She turned toward Keith and charged at him again and again as he deflected her advances. 

“Keith! On her neck!” Lance called out. Keith dodged her next attack and went behind her, aiming at her nape, but she turned and he hit her in the face. Pidge stumbled to the side before charging again. Keith stepped aside and hit the nape of her neck with the hilt of his sword and she fell to the floor. The creature recoiled and popped off her neck, quickly scrambling away up the walls. Lance shot at it, but the creature was faster and fled into the vents. 

“What happened here?” Shiro asked, rushing into the room to see a fallen Pidge and Hunk hiding behind Lance. They all stood still. Pidge slowly lifted herself from the floor with a hand on the nape of her neck. “Pidge?” She grunted as she sat up on the floor, nursing her neck. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m… I’m fine…” Her voice was small.

“You attacked us. Remember?” Keith stood between her and the rest of the team in a defensive stance, bayard still in hand. She looked away. 

“Yeah, and then Keith attacked you.” Lance threw Keith an accusatory look, gaining a pout in response. Shiro moved closer, offering her a hand. She didn’t take it, but she got up.

“I’m sorry, guys...” She kept her gaze to the floor. “I’m sorry, Hunk…” She glanced at him and away.

“What was that thing doing in here?” Hunk didn’t bother trying to hide the panic in his voice, cradling his bloodied arm against his chest

“What was that thing?” Lance trained his eyes on the vents, ready to shoot at any sign of its return.

“I...” Pidge trailed off embarrassed.

“What are you talking about?” It was Shiro’s turn to ask.

“I… erm…” She fumbled with her words and then spat them out all at once. “I took that robot-thing from that last planet. I wanted to see how they made it’s exoskeleton so resistant and so light. I was taking a look at it when… It jumped on me… I couldn’t control myself… I’m sorry!” Shiro put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder with a worried look. She tried to respond with a smile. 

“Well, where is it now?” Shiro looked around the room.

“It escaped through the vents.” Lance peeled off his eyes from the vents and turned his attention to Hunk. “Are you okay?” 

“Y-yeah…” Hunk looked down to check his injuries. There was a deep gash on his right forearm, the blood making his shirt dark. The cut on his stomach was more superficial, a scratch rather than a proper cut. His face was pale. “No… I’m not…” Pidge opened his mouth but said nothing, hugging herself awkwardly. 

“We should have Coran take a look at you at the infirmary bay. Keith and Lance can go look for that thing. Be careful, we don’t know what it can do-” 

“You mean, besides controlling our minds and make us attack our friends?” Lance said, cutting him off.

“Yeah. Don’t let that happen,” Shiro threw back in a stern voice before escorting Pidge and Hunk out of the room. Lance and Keith exchanged unamused looks and a sigh before concentrating on the task at hand. They stared silently at the vent, too high for them to reach it.

“So… What now?” Lance asked. “We wait for it to come out?” 

“We should go after it.” Keith suggested.

“You wanna go _into_ the vents?” Lance gave him a disbelieving look. 

“You want us to just wait here?” Keith retorted.

“We can lure it out. I’m not going to crawl in the vents.” Lance crossed his arms, indignant. 

“And how do you suggest we lure it out?” Keith challenged, crossing his arms. Lance opened and closed his mouth, at a loss. “Come on, help me up.” Keith marched forward, the suit lighting up as he put his bayard away, Lance sighed in defeat, repeated Keith’s action, and got in position to boost Keith up. 

“Do you even fit in there? At least if you get stuck I don’t have to look at your face.” He grumbled as Keith climbed on him. 

“At least if I get stuck I won’t have to listen to your nonsense.” Keith reached up to open the vent when Lance shook his feet, making him wobble forward and hit Lance’s face with his knee. 

“Hey!” Lance yelled at him. 

“Stop messing around!” Keith gave a stomp on Lance shoulder.

“You hit me!” Lance shook Keith’s footing again.

“You’re supposed to stay still!” Keith leaned on the wall, looking down at Lance. 

“What’s taking you so long?” He moved to take Keith’s foot off of his shoulder.

“Just stay still so I can open it!” Keith missed the small metallic intruder climbing up his arm and up his shoulder, too engrossed in the squabble. He jumped down from Lance’s shoulder, suddenly, falling hard on his elbow where he stood a second before.

“Ouch! Asshole!” Lance pushed him and kicked his stomach, but Keith caught his foot and pulled him forward, using his other arm to elbow Lance in the face. Lance fell, foot still trapped. He tried pulling his foot back and kicking Keith, but the momentum was too small to do any real damage. 

Keith stomped on his stomach and Lance lurched forward clutching it. He rolled to his side just as Keith brought his foot down once more, and he used his free leg to kick Keith away. Keith stumbled back and Lance took the opportunity to jump to his feet. Keith summoned his bayard and activated it. 

“Woah, dude!” Lance backed away. “That’s a little too much, no? We should get back to-” Keith charged at him and Lance jumped aside with a shout and ran to the far side of the training room. He tried to put as much distance between himself and Keith as he could. 

As Keith charged again Lance broke into a dash, tumbling forward and dodging Keith. He grabbed the helmet he had discarded earlier, put it on and activated his bayard. When he turned back around Keith was coming at him with a cold fury in his eyes much more menacing than his usual determined look. Lance barreled to the side, closed his helmet and prepared to take a shot. But Keith swung his sword, hitting Lance’s rifle and making him lose his grip. Keith drew his arm back to pierce Lance through and Lance flung himself to the side. He was a moment too late and the sword cut through his side. He groaned and rolled away, scrambling to his knees as he glanced between the door and Keith.

Keith ran towards him and he took aim. But he couldn’t shoot. Despite everything, he and Keith were friends. He pulled out his shield just as Keith brought his sword down, the force of the impact throwing him away. Lance laid there disoriented for a second. When he came to his senses, Keith was on top of him about to strike. Lance quickly brought his shield over himself and braced as Keith struck at him over and over again.

“Keith! Buddy! Come on!” Lance tried, fearing his suspicion was right. “You there!?” But Keith didn’t acknowledge him or back down and he attacked Lance’s shield relentlessly as Lance pleaded with him.

At the infirmary, Shiro bandaged Hunk’s arm while Coran used the scanners to check on Pidge. 

“Everything seems to be in place,” Coran announced, fiddling with his mustache. “The little fella left no lingering effects.”

“It probably connects directly to the brain…” Pidge went back to nursing the nape of her neck. The phantom sensation of something clinging too tightly was hard to shake off. She glanced at Hunk’s wounds. Shiro had already tended to the bigger cut on his arm and was now helping him apply the healing gel on his stomach. Pidge swallowed and looked away. 

“Hey, you were pretty vicious. Now that you’re back on our side I’m sure we can defeat it.” Hunk said cheerfully, but Shiro gave him a stern look. He cringed and changed the topic. “Did you crack the drive? Find anything on that thing?” 

“I didn’t find anything yet. I left the program running. It should be done by now…” Pidge sighed. “We can’t keep calling that thing _thing_. How about Mi.Co.Ne.?”

“What?” Shiro stared, confused.

“You know… For Mind Controller Neuron? It did look like one.” 

“Uh! How about O.Ri.Ne.? Overriding Neuron?” Hunk chimed in.

“How about… Gossip? For how it turns us against each other?” Shiro smiled, proud of himself. Pidge and Hunk stared at him blankly.

“So… Orine it is!” Pidge declared finally and Shiro deflated a little. “We should go help those two.”

“They’re probably fighting instead of looking for Orine, it could be anywhere by now…” Hunk finished bandaging his midriff. 

“We should check the hard drive first, it might have some information in it. I’ll go let Allura know. Be careful. We better suit up.” Pidge and Hunk nodded and went off to get their suits and then to the hangar as Shiro and Coran made their way to control room.

Allura was examining the map, trying to decide what distress beacon they should follow next when Shiro and Coran came into the room and reported the situation to her.

“If there’s an unknown being on the castle we should be able to locate it using the ship’s systems.” Allura pulled the system up to run a sweep through the castle. “The readings found something in the training room, I’ll shut the ventilation system for a while so it can’t escape again.” 

“Great, I’ll go help them catch this thin- Orine...” Shiro made to leave, but paused when the princess started to follow him.

“I’ll help too,” she explained.

“No, it’s too dangerous, you remember what happened when the castle was infected? If it takes control of you it’ll take control of the whole castle. You can stay here and give us status updates. Plus… I don’t think we can defeat you in a fight…” 

“I guess you’re right.” Allura blushed. Coran put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile. “We will look through our database, there might be some information on the Amatians that we missed,” she said, her confident look back in place.

“I’ll get started on that, princess.” Coran went to his post and began his search. Allura and Shiro exchanged one last look and he took off. 

Shiro ran down to his room and hastily put his armor on. As he picked up his helmet he felt a pinch on the back of his neck. When he felt something smooth, something not organic, he panicked, but by then it was already too late.

Pidge and Hunk sat in front of the computer, focused on the information it displayed. The drive had logs of the Galra activity on the planet of Amate, a database of its resources, and a history of communications. The two skimmed through the database, but whatever the alien was, it wasn’t listed with the rest of the creatures who once lived there.

“Ugh, this is useless!” Pidge groaned in frustration. “It’s not an animal so of course it’s not here! It’s probably Galra” 

“We never saw it before though, why would the Galra stop using it?”

“Maybe it’s defective?” 

“It doesn’t _look_ Galra…”

“We need information on Amate’s technology then… We have to go back there-” 

“Oh no no no” Hunk cut in, “we are _not_ going back there!” 

“We need to know how to turn it off!” 

“What if more of those thing get into the ship!? No no, not going back there! We can figure this out.”

Pidge sighed in defeat. “I guess we should take a look at the rest of the archives then, maybe there’s _something_.” And with that, they returned their attention to the screen, Pidge downloading the info into her handheld so they could go faster.

In the control bay, Allura and Coran went through logs and logs of Altean-gathered info on the planet of Amate. Most of it focused on its natural beauty, the rich culture, and the architecture. They made no mention of Amate’s technologic and scientific development, however, save a remark about how far behind they were from the Alteans. 

Behind the two, the map of the castle kept track of all its inhabitants, and its invaders.

Shiro stalked down the corridors, arriving at the training bay to find Lance fallen on the floor, blood running down his side and pooling beneath him. Above him, Keith kept up his assault, each strike closer to knocking Lance’s shield off. Shiro approached them, activating his arm. Lance caught sight of him. 

“Shiro! Thank god! Keith went nuts, I think that creature got him!” Lance’s breath was ragged and he felt like his arms would give in any moment now. Shiro reached them and brought his arm into an upper hook, throwing Keith a few feet away.

Lance stared aghast. He took a calming breath and swallowed thick. “Shiro?” he said slowly. Shiro turned to him calmly. His face was dark. “Oh shit.” Lance rolled away as Shiro drove his fist into the floor where Lance had been standing moments before. Lance pulled his bayard out and took a shot. He missed, his hands shaking too violently. 

Keith came back running and brought his sword down on Shiro’s back, hitting his armor. Shiro pushed Keith away with his left hand and brought his right arm into a cutting motion towards him. Keith dodged away, blending the movement together his next attack. They danced around the room in a swing-and-miss fight. Lance rose to his feet carefully. Clutching his side, he made his way out of the room, keeping a distance from the duo without taking his eyes away. 

They went at each other with no remorse. Lance glanced down to his wound and back at the two. Shiro had hit Keith square in the face and he still didn’t back down, managing to cut Shiro’s arm. Lance closed the door as he left. He stood one more moment watching them through the window, stunned. He knew how strong and good the two were, but the way they fought each other now was almost… cruel.

He called through the comms as he limped down the corridors. “Hello? Anyone?” 

“Lance?” Allura responded. “Are you okay? Did you catch the creature?” She turned to face the map. The signal indicating the strange body still blinking in the training room area, except now there were two. 

“No… It got Keith, and I think Shiro too…” 

“But how!?” She punched the controls, pulling up the recent footage from the map. She searched the video frantically for when the second one showed up. For a few moments the only signal was the one on the training room, but then a second one approached the first. She rewound the video slowly to track its origin. It went back to the sleeping quarters before vanishing. “The paladin quarters?” 

“It can’t have gotten on the ship through there. That corridor has no access to any exits,” Coran chimed in.

“Is this Pidge’s room?” She pointed at the screen. Coran shrugged. Suddenly, Pidge and Hunk ran into the room, big smiles on their faces.

“We found it!” Pidge showed the Alteans her handheld. 

“Pidge, you brought two of those things aboard?” Allura scolded her.

“What? No, I only brought one.” She put her hands up defensively. “I swear!” 

“Where did the second one come from then? Isn’t that your room?” Allura showed the second signal on the map. 

Pidge and Hunk got closer to the map. “No… That’s Shiro’s room…” she said.

“There’s two of them now!? Do you think they multiply?” Hunk asked Pidge. 

“No… It can’t be…” 

“What did you find?” Coran brought back the attention to the forgotten topic. 

“Oh, yes! We found this on the drive, it had Galra communication records.” Pidge held her handheld out and played the recording. 

“They have taken the base! We’re cornered! Requesting backup!” It was a deep, rough voice, filled with despair. “They’ll kill us all!! Help!” They could hear a heavy thumping, muffled by the presumed distance. There was some overlapping chatter and then a loud noise, followed by screaming. Pidge cut the recording there. 

“There’s a lot of these,” Hunk explained. “We think the Amatian created the robots to take the Galra out.” Pidge played another one. 

“Log date 070623k55. Sector αβ, quadrant ω, planet λ. We have located the cause of the attacks. The natives seems to have created a machine than can override the motor control of the host. We have acquired one and are conducting further experimentation. We request new personnel to replace the recent losses. ” This voice was commanding, very much Galra, but unlike the other one, completely steady.

Hunk cut in and started explaining. “Yep, but they didn’t seem to find much. We listened to some of these and this was the most helpful one. It just gets uglier and uglier after that.” 

“But the Amatian were never… technologically inclined.” Coran fiddled with his moustache.

“Yeah, but that was ten thousand years ago,” Hunk rebutted.

“...Fair.” Coran agreed after a moment of consideration.

“We couldn’t find how to turn it off though, and apparently the Galra couldn’t crack it open,” Pidge said, defeated. 

“Back at that base they stopped after heavy shock...” Hunk pointed out.

“Yeah, but they got back up. The one I brought back wasn’t moving back at the base either.” 

“If you stun them long enough we can isolate them,” Allura said. “They are both in the training room.” Allura turned towards the map. “Oh no! They’re running down the corridors now! Or one of them is… I can only find the other signal!” 

“Let’s go, Hunk!” Pidge screamed, and took off, Hunk following behind.

“Lance! Lance, are you there?” Allura called through the comms.

“Erm… Sort of…” Lance answered in a whisper. He was crouching on the floor, just beyond the bend and pushing himself against the wall as he watched Shiro make his way past out of the corner of his eye.

Shiro stalked down the corridors slowly. Serene, even. Hand glowing. Lance tried to crawl away, his wound making it all the more difficult to stay silent. He heard the footsteps getting louder.

“Are you hurt?” Allura came again, cutting through the silence. Lance didn't have a chance to respond as the footsteps got faster. He got up and tried to run, but Shiro was quicker. Shiro gripped his neck and slammed him against the wall. Allura heard the noise on the comms and pulled the video feed from that section. “Lance!” 

The image showed Lance suspended against the wall, kicking and clawing at Shiro. He managed to kick Shiro in the face and was dropped on the floor. Lance stumbled back and stayed there, exhausted, pleading for Shiro to stop, to wake, to listen. Anything. Shiro was about to deliver a punch when something, someone, tackled him to the ground. 

Pidge came right after and helped Lance up. “We need to get to the training room. I left my bayard in there.”

Hunk held Shiro to the ground. “Where's Keith?” He looked over to Lance. “We need to get you in a healing pod.”

“I'll be fine,” Lance tried to reassure his friend, but his voice was still raspy. 

Shiro struggled under Hunk. “Guys, I don't think I can hold him much longer!” Hunk could see the tendrils clinging to the sides of Shiro's neck.

Pidge ran past them and got some distance before Hunk got up and ran after her, making sure he still had Shiro’s attention. Lance leaned on the wall and slipped to the floor. He took deep breath and tried to stabilize himself. After a moment he got up and went after him team.

“We should get our armors!” Hunk yelled at Pidge as they ran. 

“There's no time! Shiro’s too close. If I get my bayard I can knock him out!” Pidge picked up her pace as Shiro drew close and Hunk tried to match her.

The doors of the training room had been forced open; there were finger-shaped dents in one of them. Keith lay on the floor unconscious. Pidge ran to her bayard where it was discarded in the middle of the room. 

“Keith!” Hunk ran to his fallen teammate, Shiro just behind. Pidge reached her bayard and immediately turned around and launched it at Shiro. He dodged and turned to her.

Hunk fell to his knees beside Keith and checked for vitals, and then the back of his neck. But Orine wasn't there. He looked around for it, but nothing. 

Shiro charged at Pidge and she rolled away to the side, climbed to her knees and tried again. Shiro caught the cable of her bayard mid air and pulled. Pidge let it go, not wanting to be dragged with it. Shiro threw her bayard away and stalked to her.

Lance reached the room finally and leaned against the door frame, taking in the scene before him as he regained his breath. Keith was unconscious, beaten up on Hunk’s arm and Shiro got closer and closer to Pidge, preparing to attack. He readied his rifle and took aim. His hands shook. Lance fixed on the strange body clinging to Shiro’s neck, took in a steadying breath, and shot.

He hit the critter and Shiro fell to the floor. The critter flew off and fell a few feet away. They all watched as Shiro got himself together, bringing a shaking hand to the nape of his neck. Pidge could see the horror on his face. He opened and closed his mouth but no words came out. Cold sweat covered his face. 

Pidge got closer and reached out to him. “Shiro, are you okay?” Shiro nearly jumped out of his skin and raised a hand, urging Pidge to stay away. 

“Keith is…?” He managed after a while, “and Lance?”

“Keith will be fine,” Hunk reassured him.

“I'm still here,” Lance said with and half-hearted chuckle from where he leaned on the door, his face pale.

“Paladins? Can you hear me?” Allura called from the comms. “Both signals are gone, did you get them?”

“We got one.” Lance answered her through his helmet.

Pidge turned her attention to Orine on the floor. She waited for any signs of it coming back to life and when none came she approached it to the sounds of her teammates telling her to be careful. She thought for a moment before taking her shoe off and putting Orine into it, holding the opening closed to be sure it wouldn't escape. 

“Now we have to fin-” a shot came from the door, landing just above Pidge. She froze in place and slowly lifted her gaze. Lance lowered his rifle and passed out. Hunk lowered Keith to the floor and ran to Lance. Pidge looked behind her to where the shot had landed. Nothing. She looked down, and there it was. The second one. She quickly put it away with the other with a sigh of relief. 

“We need to get them to the infirmary!” Hunk picked Lance up carefully, the blood caked on Lance’s side staining his shirt. He looked over to Shiro, despair in his eyes. 

“Right…” Shiro said in a shaky voice. He took a few deep breaths and pushed himself up. Marching over to Keith and picking him up. His swollen face and the blood trailing down his mouth made Shiro's gut twist, the guilt making him fight off tears. They carried the other two to the infirmary and Pidge took the assailants to Allura and Coran. 

Shiro couldn’t stop thinking back on their fight. And how he cornered Lance. Or how he knew he would've killed him if Hunk hadn't been fast enough. As the pods closed and the vital signs of the two stabilized, Shiro sat on the floor trying to calm himself.

“We should patch that up.” Hunk pointed to the cut on Shiro's arm. He brought the medical kit and sat next to Shiro and began to work, cleaning the wound and applying the gel and covering it with gauze. 

“Thanks,” Shiro said in a small voice, trying to smile, “How are yours?” 

“It’s fine, don't worry.” Hunk waved him off with a smile and lifted his shirt to make a point. But the gauze was indeed dirty. Shiro gave a small chuckle and started to help Hunk with the task. “They’ll be fine,” Hunk said, trying to reassure Shiro as much as himself. Shiro didn’t respond. “It wasn’t your fault,” Shiro gave a disbelieving scoff, “they know that.” Hunk put a hand on Shiro’s arm. 

After a moment, Shiro lifted his face, “you’re right.” He forced a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Hunk smiled back and gave him a pat on the back. When they were done with the bandaging they leaned back on the pods, tired sighs leaving both in unison. 

“It seems the creature is undetectable when alone. Our scanners are not picking them up.” Coran explained, looking into the containers that held the creatures prisoner now. 

“It's too dangerous to keep them on board. We should send them back to the planet of Amate.” Allura said from where she stood a few feet back.

“It could be really interesting to study them, we could use this technology.” Pidge had her face glued to the glass of the compartment; even after everything, she was itching to learn.

“What!? Have you learnt nothing!” Coran got on her face. 

“It's too risky. What if it gets loose again?” Allura refuted. “We will send them back as soon as I finish setting the route.” Pidge sighed, disappointed, but didn't push any further. 

Soon they were in Amate’s orbit again. The paladins and Allura watched the planet approach as they waited for Coran to finish the preparation of the small pod they would launch to the planet. 

“Do you think that those things killed them all? A whole planet?” Lance asked from his seat.

“They probably created that to fight the Galra, or make the Galra fight themselves.” Pidge inferred. “There were a bunch of them back at the base.” 

“It didn’t seem to differentiate between humans and Galra, maybe it didn’t know the difference between Galra and Amatian,” Hunk added.

Coran cut the conversation as he entered the room. “We’re ready to go, princess.” 

“Alright, launching pod in 3… 2… 1!” She gestured the command to the ship. The team watched as the small pod soon went out of view, and then a moment longer.

“So… That’s over now.” Keith broke the silence.

“Yeah…” Shiro added absently minded, and then added in a firmer voice, “let’s get out of here.” 

Allura pulled the map up and debriefed the paladins on their next mission. Lance groaned in protest, but they were all eager to move on. Shiro, however, couldn’t shake off the feeling of something too tight on his neck quite yet.


End file.
